Childhood poverty and evidence-based policy engagement in Ethiopia

Abstract

This article explores efforts to bridge multi-disciplinary research and policy engagement to tackle child poverty in the contexts of developing countries, based on the experiences of Young Lives, an international longitudinal policy-research project. It focuses on a case study involving the application of research evidence on child poverty to shape policy debates concerning Ethiopia's second-generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2006 -2010). The discussion is situated within theoretical literature on the interface between knowledge, policy, and practice, which supports the conceptualisation of policy making as a non-linear dynamic process. It pays particular attention to the importance of understanding the political and policy contexts of Southern countries, rather than assuming that they should simply import Northern-derived models of advocacy. It concludes by identifying general lessons for translating research into social-policy change.

Does Mixed Methods Research Matter to Understanding Childhood Well-Being?

“…For instance, quantitative survey data on the incidence of child labour can be used to draw attention to the extent of involvement in harmful forms of child work, while qualitative work with children can capture the complex ways in which children, their families and communities ascribe meaning to work, and the intra-household and socio-economic dynamics that need to be taken into account to eradicate exploitative forms of work in an effective and sustainable way. For example, Woldehanna et al's (2005a) work on children's paid and unpaid work in Ethiopia is one example of such a mixed methods approach, which was used for policy engagement purposes during the country's second PRSP (Jones et al 2008).…”

What's the Use of 'Well-Being' in Contexts of Child Poverty? Approaches to Research, Monitoring and Children's Participation

“…Sen 2002), there is nonetheless a strong pragmatic, ethical and human rights imperative for understanding and monitoring the outcomes of poverty and other adversities on children's well-being, by studying both their current experiences and the consequences for their future lives. Considerable advances have been made in foregrounding children's well-being and best interests as distinct from and not necessarily equivalent to the well-being of their families by ensuring basic indicators about children are disaggregated from household statistics (Qvortrup 1990;Boyden et al 2003;Jones et al 2005). There is also recognition of the considerable differentiation in children's interests and experiences, even within the same family, due to factors such as age, gender, birth order, physical health and appearance, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.…”